Description: The author discusses the first life table, or life table model, which was produced in 1662 by John Graunt in his Natural and Political Observations. He notes that the brief, crude table was both inaccurate and unrealistic, but nonetheless, proved to be the source of one of the most powerful concepts and valuable tools in demography and actuarial science.

Description: The article discovers that mortality is higher for females than for males at higher ages, and suggests "stress" as the explanation. It then discusses mental illness research, including recovery therefrom.

Description: View the complete issue for the August 2014 Reinsurance News newsletter.

Description: A recent Society of Actuaries study calculates safety and stability for current Long Term Care Insurance premiums.

Description: This paper is from Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1955 Volume 7, Number 17. The author notes that in mortality studies the ‘natural’ unit for exposures and deaths is number of lives, but often more insight is gained by use of other weights, such as face amount. In this paper, the author develops a method which, ‘by a combination of exposed to risk formulas, provides a comparatively simple procedure to permit consideration of weights which vary during the observation period.’

Description: Discussion of how to measure actual to expected mortality experience in the life settlement market.

Description: A Discussion of why female mortality is higher than male mortality at higher ages.

Description: Feature article discussing the Life Settlements business: recent growth, pricing, and future of the business.

Description: This article describes some of the drawbacks to the assessment of longevity risk adopted by most practitioners within the UK together with an initiative that provides a platform for an alternative approach that is both (a) more forward-looking in nature and (b) can complement current practices.